Sunday, February 28, 2016

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Randy & I went out to dinner for Valentines Day tonight (or last night, since it was after midnight when I posted this), so we can have Chinese carry out tomorrow in the peace & comfort of our own home. For some reason, we always seem to end up going out to dinner, then finding ourselves at one of the local Salvation Armies (or sometimes WalMart) to walk off dinner. Tonight was no different, except we went to two!.

I got some new pieces for my ceramic village. In this first one, there's a bat and the moon on little wire coils so they bounce.

This one has a dangling spider and has a place for a tealight candle in the back.

This one is my favorite! It's a little pirate ship!

I also found a neat old jewelry box that has a cameo of some girl on the cover, but I needed something to put my earrings in that is kitten-proof! I haven't decided it I'm going to repaint it or not. The music box doesn't work, but I'm OK with that. I don't want it to start playing at random and give me a heart attack!

Earlier today I was at Hobby Lobby and I found the paints to use on the horse project. They're all of a satin finish and instead of bright white for the bones, I found "white birch" which is a bit more ivory looking.

I better make sure I get the apothecary out in 2016, because I found more cool things to adorn bottles & such! I have a box of stuff just to use, so I need to bring it out to the light of day!

I have a lot of pieces like that, along with beads & costume jewelry & such to use.....I found this idea on Pinterest , but I was thinking of a skull....

OH ~clicking back some posts~ I never showed you this! Randy & I were at an antique store and saw these in a display case. I didn't get them at the time, but I couldn't stop thinking about them, mainly the dragon. So I went back the next day.

Ugh. Lousy color, but you can see how huge it is!

I don't know if that will be put in a frame or not. It's too heavy to actually wear, but it's too pretty to stick in a box where noone can see. This will require some thought!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Question...I posted this on a couple FB pages and got a zillion different answers so I'm still just as lost as before. This is the question I posted....

Could I use regular nail polish remover to take the white markings off this plastic? And also, would acrylic paint stick to it? I want to paint a skeleton on it.

Here are some of the comments / suggestions I got....

*Nail polish might make the base gummy, i would just repaint it all black then add the white

*Definitely not if it has acetone

*You could try some 99% alcohol.

*Acrylic should do fine, and I agree with the suggestion to just paint base black before adding the skeleton.

*I like the idea

*If the base plastic is black, then acetone should take off all the paint work if you want a blank canvas. It's probably easier to just paint over if you still want the facial paint though.

*Use lemon oil

*My suspicion is that the base is probably a light shade. It might actually be the white of the appaloosa markings with the rest machine airbrushed on. As I remember, toys left out in the weather lose their paint and you see the grey/white plastic color they really are, so I'd paint over it all.

*My husband works with plastic and he says that yes, acetone could melt or damage the plastic, test it in an easy to hide spot - like the inside of one of the legs. Though he also says that if long exposure is avoided you may do no damage at all.

*To get acrylic paint to stay on plastic paint over it with a paint sealer. I've painted plastic many times and the paint will come off far too easy with moisture if not sealed.

*Rub it with some steel wool / sandpaper to rough it up to have the paint stick to the horse

*I would recommend you pull the hair up and cover it with tin foil and spray paint the horse black. Finger nail polish remover may just discolor the entire thing.

*Use a base coat of water based varnish first for the acrylic paint to adhere than top coat with the same to protect, The varnish can be added to the paint as well . I like the FolkArt brand

*I also recomend the base coat if flat black, and acrylics will stick just fine.

*You can just scuff it lightly with sandpaper so the paint will stick

*Spray paint a base coat, or add glue to your first acrylic layer to help any further paint stick, and not crack or peel up.

So here's my tentative plan of attack. I have non-acetone nail polish remover I'm going to try first. I did a test area on its leg and it took some rubbing, but the white paint did come off and the plastic didn't feel gummy afterward. Then I'm going to sand it lightly to scuff it up.

Next will require some thought & research. I'm 99.9998% positive it'll need a base coat. I don't know whether to use black matte spray paint, or basic black acrylics? The spray would give it a smoother layer. Then once I get the bones painted on, I'll seal it with some varnish in a satin finish like someone mentioned above.

I have a gift card from Michael's so I'll have to take my horse and go do some browsing. Maybe someone there could offer some suggestions. What about any of my readers? I value your opinion & expertise more than I would Gramma's from Michael's!